Number of Birmingham asylum seekers down by a third, says Liam Byrne

Labour stepped up its campaign to prove it is tough on immigration as Birmingham Minister Liam Byrne published new figures revealing the number of asylum seekers living in the city has fallen dramatically.

Labour stepped up its campaign to prove it is tough on immigration as Birmingham Minister Liam Byrne published new figures revealing the number of asylum seekers living in the city has fallen dramatically.

Mr Byrne, the MP for Hodge Hill and Minister for Immigration, claimed the drop in asylum numbers proved “Britain’s borders are stronger than ever”.

He also highlighted falls in the number of Eastern European migrants coming to the UK.

A report published by the Home Office also revealed that 5,000 people a month are being deported from Britain because they have no right to be here.

Mr Byrne issued a statement boasting of the Government’s success in discouraging people from moving to Britain, including asylum seekers.It was a far cry from Labour’s traditional approach to immigration, which was to focus almost solely on the benefits immigrants bought to the country.

When former Tory leader Michael Howard said immigration should be “limited and controlled” in the 2005 General Election, he was accused of using “scurrilous, right-wing, ugly tactics” by Peter Hain, then a Labour Cabinet Minister.

According to the new figures, there are now 4,120 asylum seekers in council accommodation in the West Midlands, including 1,300 in Birmingham. It means the number of asylum seekers in Birmingham has fallen by a third in the past 12 months. Last year there were 5,605 asylum seekers in the West Midlands and 1,920 in Birmingham.

The reduction appears to be at least partly due to a fall in the number of people applying for asylum. The Home Office reported that 5,720 people tried to claim asylum between April and June this year, 14 per cent fewer than in the previous three months.

Mr Byrne also highlighted an apparent fall in the number of Eastern Europeans coming to the UK to work.

There were 40,000 applications to the Worker Registration Scheme by people from Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia between April and June this year.

This was 14,000 fewer than in the same period last year, due mainly to a reduction in the number of Poles coming to the UK.

There are currently believed to be 115,000 registered workers from Eastern Europe in the Midlands, according to the Home Office.

Mr Byrne said: “Britain’s borders are stronger than ever with asylum applications at an historic low and an immigration offender removed every eight minutes.

“Foreign lawbreakers are being removed from Britain at record levels with more than 2,500 deported so far this year. I have made it repeatedly clear that people who come here must earn the right to stay, work hard and play by the rules.”

But the Refugee Council, which provides services for asylum seekers and refugees, said people who needed help were being turned away.

A spokeswoman said: “Britain’s borders have become quite impenetrable. We have huge concerns that the most vulnerable people, who have the fewest resources, are unable to get the help they need.”

The Government also revealed it had expelled 32,230 people from the UK in the first six months of 2008.

But Home Office figures also revealed that deportations failed to keep up with the number of newly-failed asylum seekers last year.Including dependants, about 16,800 people were classed as failed asylum seekers in 2007.

But only 13,705 were removed or left the UK voluntarily during the course of the year - down 25 per cent from 18,280 in 2006.Pressure group Migrationwatch UK said that total immigration was still rising.

Sir Andrew Green, the group’s chairman said: “The fall in registrations from eastern Eastern Europe is welcome news for our hard pressed public services but other government statistics publishes today show that immigration as a whole continues on a rising trend. Net immigration reached nearly 200,000 in the year to mid-2007.”